Yossi Klein Halevi and I write about the clear and extreme dangers facing Israel from the Islamic Republic of Iran and the historical duty of defending our state from annihilation. Nearly twenty years ago, when we both served as contributing editors of The New Republic, we wrote an article about the existential threat to Israel…

The commercial and spiritual ties between India and Israel pale beside our shared strategic interests. One cannot overestimate the importance of the second visit to Israel of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The fact that the democratically elected leader of the most populous nation on earth and one of its most powerful economies chose to…

Today, after countless anti-war demonstrations, Israelis are again poised to protest in favor of war. Contrary to what much of the world today believes, Israelis hate war. In our entire history, we have only wanted to go to war twice and both times when there was literally no choice. The first instance took place fifty-nine…

When it comes to Iran, today’s meeting between Netanyahu and Trump could prove fateful. In my media interviews, I am always being asked what Trump is thinking and what he is going to do about Iran. The questions are more pressing today, as Prime Minister Netanyahu holds his seventh meeting with President Trump in the…

Now that the remains of our final hostage have been repatriated, the country’s eyes are fixed on either Iran or Gaza. It’s easy to forget one of the most fateful issues still facing us: the north. During the war, as many as 100,000 residents of the north were either evacuated from their homes by the…

Columbia University was once my dream school and has since become my nightmare. I was sixteen years old and had just read Making It by Norman Podhoretz, who passed away at age 95 last month. His memoir was about a Jewish kid from Brooklyn who went to Columbia and became a major intellectual figure. I…

The Lavon Affair remains a stain on Israel’s intelligence record and a lesson for Israeli leaders today. The end of this month, January 31, will mark seventy-one years since Egypt’s execution of Israeli agent Moshe Marzouk and six decades since his death resulted in an Israeli prime minister’s resignation. Why do both anniversaries remain acutely…

With Israel’s main enemies significantly downgraded, the failure to assert our sovereignty poses the greatest threat to Israel’s long term survival. At first glance, the tragic death of the Haredi teenager Yosef Eisenthal during an anti-government demonstration in Jerusalem last week seemed totally unconnected to the shooting, by Israel police, of a Bedouin man, Muhammad…

Maduro’s capture is outstanding news for the democratic world. President Trump’s audacious action in capturing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in downtown Caracas and airlifting him to prison in America is outstanding news for the democratic world and especially for Israel. The operation follows many years that the United States turned its back on South America.…

2025 was a year of war–in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. It was a year of loss and trauma but also of victory and, for the hostages, redemption. 2026 promises to be a pivotal year of breakthroughs in relations with several of Israel’s long-term foes. Beyond that, 2026 for Israel could be a year of recovery,…